Confucius Understood Human Nature…
Born to enjoy food, and color, and noise...
In my readings, the phrase, “So-and-so understood human nature…” frequently makes an appearance. Everyone wants to make progress in this comprehension of our basic motivations. So they should, for what wonders could be accomplished! An end to misunderstanding and grievance, the means to muster the collective good of humanity to dispel injustice, right wrongs; everything, and everyone, in their place. Ha! Let’s hope we never get there.
Confucius was first and foremost a historian, maybe the most eminent of his age. A widely travelled man when most never left their villages. An administrator who dispensed justice, both avoided and prosecuted wars, gained friends, earned enemies, and has never not been venerated or forgotten since. He did all of this, and this is important, perhaps the key, in a spirit of good humor towards himself and others. Judge for yourself against his words. Did Confucius understand human nature? Did a lifetime of adventures allow him a glimpse, to brush up against understanding?
Confucius said, “Food and drink and sex are the great desires of mankind, and death and poverty and suffering are the great fears or aversions of mankind. Therefore desires and fears are the great motive forces of the human heart. These, however, are concealed in the heart and not usually shown, and the human heart is unfathomable. Therefore man is the product of the forces of heaven and earth, the incarnation of spirits and the essence of the five elements. Therefore, man is the heart of the universe, the upshot of the five elements, born to enjoy food and color and noise…..”
We do ourselves no good denying our nature. Listening to our unfathomable heart is a surer recipe for flourishing than denial and abstinence. Abstinence from life’s chances. I am curious, wanting to see to believe. I am shy and awkward, wanting to share honest contact. I am passionate, wanting to let go of standards. Putting consciousness to work crafting an individuality and environment aligned to our nature moves us forward.
What a blessing that each generation is born without experience. We can learn from the past but must experience to understand. We were born to experience the flavors, the passions, the triumphs, and the failures. Tuned to revel in a chaotic existence. To understand human nature is to understand that we can’t be controlled, explained, or programmed. Some excess does the heart good. Confucius would agree.
To live and experience each day is in itself us trying to understand human nature. The balance comes from imbalance, the known from the unknown.
I have done many things in excess, going in both directions to find the middle way. Thanks for your sharing 🙏❤️